BY FEMI ASU
‘Making It Big’ is easily one of the most fascinating books I have read in recent years. Truly unputdownable, I finished the 286-page book within 24 hours after Roving Heights delivered it to me in record time.
Without doubt, not many will make it “big” the way Nigerian tycoon Femi Otedola did, but anyone can learn a thing or two about Nigeria, business and other aspects of life from his experiences. “Smart people,” said Greek philosopher Socrates, “learn from everything and everyone”.
To those who think he is a nepo baby and should not have a say about how to make it, Otedola says: “It’s easy for my critics to…suggest how easy things had been for me, how my father’s name opened doors, and how my closeness to politicians made me rich. Talk is cheap. What they don’t know is that nothing fell into my lap. I went through sleepless nights. I survived treachery and backbiting. I was financially ruined. I battled blackmail. I strove hard to continue to believe in myself.”
He tells us about how his decision to follow his convictions by dropping out of secondary school to join his father’s business nearly killed his mother. That reminds me of what played out when I opted for journalism after studying accounting.
He admits that his desire for a monopoly wrecked his highflying diesel business Zenon and plunged him headlong into a suffocating debt storm that saw him surrender virtually everything he had amassed, including 150 flats and a private jet.
“You must know when to slow down,” the author cautions. “You cannot keep going into debt, having sleepless nights and battling high blood pressure because of a desire to conquer by any means possible… No matter how tempting and accessible loans are, you should take them wisely.”
Many words in the book are quotable, and here are a few: “When you’re enjoying massive success over a long period, it’s easy to ignore serious problems until the business collapses.”; “It brings you joy to be making others happy. You obviously won’t experience this emotion when you’re dead.”; “You do not start learning your lessons in your old age. That is not the best way to exit this world.”; and “Yes, you are allowed to fail, but don’t lose everything.”
While his level of openness in the memoir is amazing and applaudable, it boggles my mind why he left out the feud that ensued between him and Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man.
How many Gen Zs who admire the friendship of the two billionaires as a match made in heaven know about the year-long fight that grabbed headlines both in local and international media?
In his memoir, Otedola mentions Dangote – his role model-turned-friend – many times. He describes him as “a textbook example of an entrepreneur who can see into the future”, saying “in just over 40 years, the Kano-born and Lagos-based businessmen had become a phenomenon, celebrated around the globe”.
